Advice on my situation/plan

I joined this board a while ago, and have been reading up on quite a bit of threads. I haven't decided to post until now. I would really appreciate if some of you guys could give me some advice.

---------------------------------------

I just finished my 2nd year and I have a cumulative 3.7 GPA. I'm currently taking the TPR in-class prep, which started on June 16th. I am signed up for the September 13th test.

My dilemma is this...I took the IB program in high school and scored a 6 for bio. This allowed me to basically skip general bio these past 2 years at UCSD.

However, I am a human bio major, and I am going to be taking Mammalian physiology and genetics this next fall quarter.

G-chem, ochem, and physics are pretty fresh in my mind right now and I've gotten A's on all of these classes. So for these 3 subjects, I am basically relying on the in-class TPR in-class lectures to basically reteach me what I know and do many workbook problems/passages.

As far as verbal goes, I know that this one especially is dependent on basically practicing a lot.

Bio is my main problem right now. My plan for bio is to read the TPR bio portion book (which is quite detailed and long), then read the ek bio, supplemented with the in-class bio lectures.

--------------------------------------------

1) For g-chem,ochem,and physics, and verbal do you guys think the way I'm approaching studying for these 3 subjects is sufficient or do I need to read the TPR books too?

2) Can I possibly be able to effectively study all the bio material (basically giving me a little less than 3 months) or should I postpone my test until sometime after fall quarter once I finish genetics/mammphys?

1) You should definitely read the TPR books. There's stuff you probably forget or never learned that well. You can probably slack a little with O-chem, but still read the book at least once on it.

2) You will probably be fine as long as you study for it seriously. The review books will have everything you need to know in it. Make sure to take practice tests early on so you can gauge whether you think you can handle the bio section.

Yeah, your right. I took the Kaplan course. Classes were basically the same thing as what I learned in the book, but the idea is that it is more active learning. It further reinforces the ideas, and your put on the spot to answer questions. By all means, many people don't need that and can simply learn it from a book. It's completely up to you. Classes are probably better for a person who needs more structure in their study schedule, it forces them to do the work. If you would prefer to do it on your own, that works too.

You already started the class. You mine as well keep going to them. I skipped a bunch of lectures, which didn't matter whatsoever.

About SDN

We are a non-profit academic community founded in 1999. Our mission: help students become doctors.

Join thousands of fellow college students, health professional students and practicing doctors from across the United States and Canada. Membership is always free, anonymous, and member information is never sold or shared with other organizations.

Student Resources

Donate Today!

As part of our mission, we ensure our student resources are always provided for free or at cost. In addition to our free forums and data-driven resources, we also archive excellent online services, blogs, and publish multiple books for our community.

Make a tax-deductible donation and receive an immediate forums account upgrade!